cover image The Historical Mary: Revealing the Pagan Identity of the Virgin Mother

The Historical Mary: Revealing the Pagan Identity of the Virgin Mother

Michael Jordan. Seastone, $14 (337pp) ISBN 978-1-56975-334-7

Mary Magdalene is not the only New Testament Mary who merits a revisionist agenda these days. In The Historical Mary: Revealing the Pagan Identity of the Virgin Mother, Michael Jordan (no, not that Michael Jordan) argues that while Jesus' mom probably was a historical person, her portrait has been ""fabricated"" by the Roman Catholic Church to suit its own political purposes. In particular, Jordan argues, the church has suppressed the pagan roots of the Marian tradition. The best parts of Jordan's book, which is generally well argued and carefully researched, debunk Christian myths about Mary, drawing on extra-canonical writings and early church traditions as well as the sparse biblical account of her life. But at the book's end, many readers may not be persuaded that ""Mary"" was really a pagan goddess, though Jordan does a fine job of laying out the general similarities between her virgin-birth story and that of other pagan heroines.